invacar LightBulbFun's Invacar & general ramble thread, index on page 1, survivors lists on Pages 24/134 & AdgeCutler's Invacar Mk12 Restoration from Page 186 onwards, still harping on...

18,415 · January 28

1 hour ago, Erebus said:

Just spotted a couple of bady drawn Invacars on the cover of a Birmingham City programme:

They're better than that guy's head! 🤣

9,976 · January 28

2 hours ago, Erebus said:

Just spotted a couple of bady drawn Invacars on the cover of a Birmingham City programme:

Apart from appearing to be convertibles, they aren't bad representations of the Mk12...

12,832 · January 28

Trevor Francis that is

12,832 · January 29

Light on retrorides for sale lbf ! Only 20 quid

23,692 · January 29

2 hours ago, Christine said:

Light on retrorides for sale lbf ! Only 20 quid

Awesome got a link? I had a bit of a search of Retro-rides dont see anything there but perhaps I am missing something

7,903 · January 29

4 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

Awesome got a link? I had a bit of a search of Retro-rides dont see anything there but perhaps I am missing something

https://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/230028/various-tools-sale-sussex-rh19

23,692 · January 29

8 minutes ago, 500tops said:

https://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/230028/various-tools-sale-sussex-rh19

Awesome thanks for that! Ill have a look at grabbing that I think, funnily enough I have been to that general area with REV in the past, thats when I discovered what fun* spray off Lorries on the M25 is, I was actually thankful when it started raining properly LOL, otherwise you go to over take and your windscreen turns opaque, I went through a lot of screen wash on that drive (which reminds me actually I need to top that up in REV)

4,352 · January 29

2 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

you go to over take and your windscreen turns opaque,

You're a poet, and you don't know it!

1,914 · January 29

You go to overtake,

Your windscreen turns opaque.

But you step down on the gas

'Cause this Invacar kicks ass.

Your knuckles keep their grip

On the handlebars of your whip

Cruisin' up the fast lane

A three wheeler in the rain.

4,352 · January 29

3 minutes ago, Mr Livered said:

You go to overtake,

Your windscreen turns opaque.

But you step down on the gas

'Cause this Invacar kicks ass.

Richard Thompson, or Chris Rea? Not Springsteen, because he wouldn't use the word opaque.

1,914 · January 29

2 minutes ago, Mr Pastry said:

Richard Thompson, or Chris Rea? Not Springsteen, because he wouldn't use the word opaque.

I was thinking we should ask Tom Waits to do the vocals.

4,352 · January 29

Just now, Mr Livered said:

I was thinking we should ask Tom Waits to do the vocals.

Yep I thought of Waits and he probably would say opaque, to the confusion of many.

23,692 · January 29

speaking of Valves bouncing about at high RPM's, talking to a friend about the VDP earlier today, and he raised a good point I had not even thought about because I am spoiled by the all aluminium hemi-head design engine in REV which has inherently hardened valve seats, but what is my situation in regards to the VDP and unleaded fuel? is that something I should do something about or is it likely to already have had hardened valve seats?

along those lines I decided to see what I could find out about the engine in the VDP, but looking at some A series engine decoders/charts I cant find anything that matches! the first digits being 12H617, I can find that 12H is 1275cc (which is nice, good to know someones not done a @Tommyboy121.3 montego estate, and stuck an 850cc Automatic in there LOL) , but I cant find anything for the next 3 digits

https://blog.simonbbc.com/2014/11/06/a-or-a-series-engine-number-guide/

at most I can find

Quote

12H/-/ 1275 Austin ADO16 & Allegro

its so painfully obviously in these searches, that on the surface all anyone seems to care about is Mini's no one gives much of a shit about the finer details of ADO16's n what have you in this regard!

4,352 · January 29

All stock A series get valve bounce at 5750 rpm, it's the law. Designed that way to stop enthusiasts breaking them. I doubt if the auto engines were any different, and anyway they would be optimised for torque rather than revs.

They all burn out no. 3 exhaust valve eventually, presumably that one gets hotter than the others for some reason. I don't think they ever had hardened seats from new, so the only way to tell would be to pull it to bits, don't unless you really have to. It is only the exhaust seats that are likely to be a problem with unleaded.

At one time I was involved with a company who built tuned versions of the Ford Kent engine based on the AX industrial unit and I saw many of these built. They built lots of these, with very few comebacks. The main changes when they introduced the unleaded version were, different distributor with different advance curve, and adding the suffix UL to the engine number. They did not fit hardened valve seats and their view was that for the mileages these engines were doing between overhauls, it wasn't a problem.

Cast iron has inherently good lubricating properties due to its graphite content, something which is often overlooked.

41,859 · January 29

47 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

is that something I should do something about or is it likely to already have had hardened valve seats?

Hard to know it has without removing the head. It wouldn't have out the factory but might have been retrofitted after with hardened seats.

When lead fuel was being phased out, there was a mad rush into getting them done. Given this car has done a fair few miles in its life, I wouldn't entirely discount if it's been done. Especially as an A-series is easy for a setup workshop to do and would have had a lot done back in the 90s. There was a lot of scaremongering back then around it all that in retrospect was over hyped.

Either way, I wouldn't worry about it. To check properly is a head off job. If the seats need doing, it's a head off job. By the time it's an issue then it's time for a head rebuild anyway and that's not a difficult job on an A-series. It's not something that'll make an engine suddenly go bang either. Plus you get lead build up on the seats over years of driving with lead fuel, which prolongs them off it.

If you're really worried then stick an additive in. They're not that expensive.

But personally I'd not be worrying too much. There is a greater chance the auto AP gearbox will go pop before the seats need doing....

23,487 · January 29

As has been said just pop some additive as an insurance.

Is it on its original engine - ie does the V5C actually relate to anything on the engine itself?

A Series engines go on a long time - just need regular oil changes- especially when used in stop-start traffic.

Do these autos have an oil cooler on them? Might be a useful addition.

Useful to fit an aftermarket oil pressure gauge and oil temp gauge for extra info - I think digital ones are available these days.

3,642 · January 29

1 hour ago, Mr Livered said:

You go to overtake,

Your windscreen turns opaque.

But you step down on the gas

'Cause this Invacar kicks ass.

Your knuckles keep their grip

On the handlebars of your whip

Cruisin' up the fast lane

A three wheeler in the rain.

On Beasley Street.

3,642 · January 29

You could still buy 5 Star in 1973 when the Plahdidas was new no need for newfangled hardened seats or even the induction hardened. 😊

23,692 · January 30

good to know whichever way its not likely to be a problem (along similar notes, how ethanol proof are these things? I have been putting Super E5 in and ill probably continue to do so, but just incase I was wondering, if there was anything i'd need to be aware of say carburettor wise etc)

2 hours ago, lesapandre said:

Is it on its original engine - ie does the V5C actually relate to anything on the engine itself?

interestingly along those line looking closer at the engine number tag on the engine itself the specfication number has an E suffix on the end 12H617E (and then theres a - and what i presume is the actual serial number of the engine)

which if the foot note here

https://blog.simonbbc.com/2014/11/06/a-or-a-series-engine-number-guide/

Quote

Notes:

All engines pre-fixed with ‘GSE’ or ‘RKM’ were of UNIPART origin when BL split its parts organisation.
‘E’ at the end of a part number denotes it is a reconditioned, service unit only (basic engine assembly with no ancillaries).
‘N’ at the end of a part number denotes a brand new unit.

is to be believed would indicate a reconditioned engine, not that I am too surprised by that, ol girl has 83602 miles on the clock so I had been wondering if the engine had been rebuilt/replaced at some point in its life. (which means I have done 270 miles so far, 150 of which was on the return from Bristol, so I have done 120 miles just running around London in under a month!)

my question being what are the specifications of the rebuilt engine/when was it rebuilt wonder if any of that can be deduced from its number or not?

3,642 · January 30

Drive the car regularly and don't let the fuel age. The Ethanol will soon show you what currently fitted fuel system parts it doesn't like and also how incompatible the new parts you buy are. Does it have twin or single SU's? Look up Burlen if you need carb parts and stick with them.

4,352 · January 30

On the ethanol thing, no direct experience with the A series but I think as with unleaded there has been some scaremongering. We had a couple of brass carb floats fail which may have been ethanol related, couldn't be sure as they were very old, but the VDP should have a plastic float and none of it is ancient by my standards. Rubber hoses I think you just have to keep an eye on, but you would anyway. I have run my 2CV on "normal" E10 since it started, and have had no trouble. It still has its original rubber hose from tank to metal pipe and that is the one which would probably fail as it is inaccessible. I serviced it about the time of the switch to E10, then after 4000 miles a couple of valve clearances had closed up but not significantly, so I don't think ethanol has been a conclusive factor there. I have not checked on the fuel consumption, because other things to worry about and it would be difficult to check it accurately enough.

23,692 · January 30

2 hours ago, Snake Charmer said:

Drive the car regularly and don't let the fuel age. The Ethanol will soon show you what currently fitted fuel system parts it doesn't like and also how incompatible the new parts you buy are. Does it have twin or single SU's? Look up Burlen if you need carb parts and stick with them.

has the single HS4 carb, curiously while the manual VDP's got Dual carbs the Auto's only got singles, was that because the Auto box could not take any more power or did they just assume if you want the slush box option your not going to be wanting to go 10/10th anyhow?

2 hours ago, Mr Pastry said:

On the ethanol thing, no direct experience with the A series but I think as with unleaded there has been some scaremongering. We had a couple of brass carb floats fail which may have been ethanol related, couldn't be sure as they were very old, but the VDP should have a plastic float and none of it is ancient by my standards. Rubber hoses I think you just have to keep an eye on, but you would anyway. I have run my 2CV on "normal" E10 since it started, and have had no trouble. It still has its original rubber hose from tank to metal pipe and that is the one which would probably fail as it is inaccessible. I serviced it about the time of the switch to E10, then after 4000 miles a couple of valve clearances had closed up but not significantly, so I don't think ethanol has been a conclusive factor there. I have not checked on the fuel consumption, because other things to worry about and it would be difficult to check it accurately enough.

on the big 300 mile round trip I did with REV to kidderminster and back last year, and the only thing that went wrong was my idle left the chat, which was traced to one of the brass floats in my carburettor having failed (since replaced with a good set and alls been tickity boo since) and that trip I only ever filled up on E10 because thats all that happened to be available at the petrol stations I pulled in at, so interesting comment about the Brass float failure! I would not of thought ethanol would have bothered brass floats (or I would of thought it would have more chance of melting plastic ones then brass ones!)

my particular concern with the VDP fuel hoses aside, is, is there anything inside a SU carburettor that is ethanol sensitive (the fuel pump in the VDP is a relatively modern looking Hardi unit so i'd like to think its ethanol safe but suppose I should double check that!)

BTW your comment about valve clearances reminds me, how re-reusable are cork rocker cover gaskets? REV's had hers recently replaced but because the feeler gauges went AWOL at that particular time her clearances never got fully checked, so thats something I would like to do when the weather gets less cold, I am just wondering if I can get away with re-using the relatively fresh gaskets or not

4,352 · January 30

32 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

on the big 300 mile round trip I did with REV to kidderminster and back last year, and the only thing that went wrong was my idle left the chat, which was traced to one of the brass floats in my carburettor having failed (since replaced with a good set and alls been tickity boo since) and that trip I only ever filled up on E10 because thats all that happened to be available at the petrol stations I pulled in at, so interesting comment about the Brass float failure! I would not of thought ethanol would have bothered brass floats (or I would of thought it would have more chance of melting plastic ones then brass ones!)

my particular concern with the VDP fuel hoses aside, is, is there anything inside a SU carburettor that is ethanol sensitive (the fuel pump in the VDP is a relatively modern looking Hardi unit so i'd like to think its Ethonal safe but suppose I should double check that!)

BTW your comment about valve clearances reminds me, how re-reusable are cork rocker cover gaskets? REV's had hers recently replaced but because the feeler gauges went AWOL at that particular time her clearances never got fully checked, so thats something I would like to do when the weather gets less cold, I am just wondering if I can get away with re-using the relatively fresh gaskets or not

Chemistry is not my best subject, but brass does (or can) deteriorate with age due to loss of the zinc content, and ISTR reading that ethanol will attack it. However, plenty of brass bits in carburettors! The plastic floats I think are polythene which is fairly inert. I would have thought your fuel pump would have been the most likely problem but hopefully a modern one would be OK.

You can re-use cork rocker gaskets, several times if you have to, as long as they come off in one piece and haven't been compressed too much.

22,825 · January 30

Also just to add, about whether you have hardened valve seats or not.

If you do happen to burn out a valve seat that is the exact part which needs to be machined out to fit hardened seats so it really doesn't matter. I just ran my Triumph (not the same engine but very much the same technology) as normal until the head had to come off for other reasons and had them fitted then. So basically as others have said, I wouldn't worry about it.

7,979 · January 30

1 hour ago, Yoss said:

Also just to add, about whether you have hardened valve seats or not.

If you do happen to burn out a valve seat that is the exact part which needs to be machined out to fit hardened seats so it really doesn't matter. I just ran my Triumph (not the same engine but very much the same technology) as normal until the head had to come off for other reasons and had them fitted then. So basically as others have said, I wouldn't worry about it.

My B Series hasn't had the head off since being made in 1974 and almost certainly doesn't have hardened seats.

It's still running very well and I'm not worried.

10,393 · January 30

On 28/01/2026 at 21:36, LightBulbFun said:

it reminds me a bit of that ADO16 in @Conan's neck the woods that was *extremely* modified/modernised, it was quite fascinating, like alternate time warp, where the ADO16 platform just never died and was continually face lifted instead...

(please tell me someones still has pictures of that!)

This post?

7,437 · January 30

29 minutes ago, adw1977 said:

This post?

AAAAARGGGGGHHHH!

23,692 · January 31

14 hours ago, adw1977 said:

This post?

thats the bugger! I very much understand @Pieman's reaction, ill stick with my VDP thank you very much!

On 05/12/2019 at 13:10, vulgalour said:

That 1100 is frankly amazing and all those disparate parts have no right working together so smoothly. Even if it's made of 95% pure Isopon, that's still a serious bit of craft to get that looking as unshonky as it does.

but I find it fascinating for the same reason @vulgalour i'd love to see a version that was not so barry'ed if you will, lose the massive wheels and silly bumper/side skirts etc, give it "normal" 90's plastic bumpers etc,

what I find most impressive about it is that they where able to find a set of modern rear lights that actually fit the tail fins of the ADO16... tho thinking about it a set off a TX1/2/4 would work given those where modelled after the FX4's tail lights, which literally are ADO16 units

for those curious I did find the original facebook post, turns out its from Syria

https://www.facebook.com/king.drive.77/posts/1980240765391926

I suppose another variation on the theme is, what would an ADO16 look like if it was given the sort of treatment later Mini's where given?

23,487 · January 31

A bit like the 'chunking-up' of MGB body tub to create the RV8 (I know a lot of people don't like it but they had to do something).

Would ADO16 have facelifted? Of course it would. Would it have met upcoming legislation in era - probably not in time. But it would have bought time to jump straight to a Maestro type car or to brush up the Maxi. Ah counterfactual history - what fun.

2,528 · January 31

1 hour ago, lesapandre said:

A bit like the 'chunking-up' of MGB body tub to create the RV8 (I know a lot of people don't like it but they had to do something).

Would ADO16 have facelifted? Of course it would. Would it have met upcoming legislation in era - probably not in time. But it would have bought time to jump straight to a Maestro type car or to brush up the Maxi. Ah counterfactual history - what fun.

That Victoria car has a Lancia look about it at the front, but from what I can see of the back end, perhaps not!

invacar LightBulbFun's Invacar & general ramble thread, index on page 1, survivors lists on Pages 24/134 & AdgeCutler's Invacar Mk12 Restoration from Page 186 onwards, still harping on...

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